Craigslist, you are mean to me.

I don't know if I've mentioned this part yet, but I did spend $200 on a couch and futon and then $150 moving them (and my boxes) only to give the furniture away on Craigslist. Met the people outside the bug apartment today and watched them haul the futons off. I had no place to put them, of course, and just needed to be rid of them asap, so as to bear as little responsibility as possible for that place, get out sooner rather than later, justify not paying any of that rent. Also had pulled my stuff out of storage two already-paid weeks early. Which will be ironic if I end up living in the Financial Distict again - where they were stored - since that is where rents seem to be cheapest.

Sitting outside near the projects (which I did, for two hours, waiting for these furniture pirates to show up) is kind of nice. All the middle-aged Spanish women say hi because they don't know who you are yet. Cutest, though, was a four-year-old girl walking with her dad, who asked him "Do you like that girl, daddy?" To which he said, "No, I like your mama. I ain't allowed to like any other girls." "What's her name?" "I don't know her name! I don't want to know her name. You want mama to beat daddy up?"

Then got home to find a fly infestation in the crash pad. Infestation. Lord of the flies. Eventually, 100 of them dancing in the see-thru dustbuster, since, pace the honey/vinegar apothegm, apparently there is no better way to catch a fly. Had to unpack and repack each one of my boxes, terrified that a sticky little sac of maggots had crept in there during their four-day sojourn at the bug apartment.

It's been a great ride, folks.

P.S. NY real estate continues to kick my ass. You can't even live on top of three other people for less than $1000 a month. Not even in Brooklyn. You wouldn't believe the shitholes. You wouldn't believe the prices. The terms and conditions. The asshole brokers. "$1295 Studio in the East Village. [And by that we mean $1900 studio in the East 90s.] 28 square feet. Gut renovated. ***A REAL GEM!!! TONS OF SUNLIGHT*** through the sole window in the bathroom. Fee: 86%. Bring fourteen paystubs and proof of a diversified investment portfolio. ***WON'T LAST!!!***" The jackass roommates. "Show up between 3:55 and 4:00 pm on Friday for the open house. Vie with 50 others for a chance to live on our ugly furniture and share our idea of hygiene. Also, bring first, last, second last, and fifth months' rent. And a security deposit. 123 4th Street, just sixteen blocks off the L in East East East Williamsburg."